New from the University of Virginia Press:
A Saga of the New South: Race, Law, and Public Debt in Virginia (July 2016), by
Brent Tarter (Library of Virginia). A description from the Press:
In the lead-up to the Civil War, Virginia, like other southern
states, amassed a large A Saga of the New South
delves into the largely untold story of the decades-long postwar
controversies over the repayment of that debt. The result is a major
reinterpretation of late-nineteenth-century Virginia political history.
public debt while striving to improve
transportation infrastructure and stimulate economic development.
The post–Civil War public debt controversy in Virginia reshaped the
state’s political landscape twice. First it created the conditions under
which the Readjuster Party, a biracial coalition of radical reformers,
seized control of the state government in 1879 and successfully
refinanced the debt; then it gave rise to a counterrevolution that led
the elitist Democratic Party to eighty years of dominance in the state's
politics. Despite the Readjusters’ victory in refinancing the debt and
their increased spending for the popular new system of free public
schools, the debt controversy generated a long train of legal
disputes—at least eighty-five cases reached the Virginia Supreme Court
of Appeals, and twenty-nine reached the Supreme Court of the United
States. Through an in-depth look at these political and legal contests, A Saga of the New South sheds new light on the many obstacles that reformers faced in Virginia and the South after the Civil War.
A few blurbs:
"A Saga of the New South is a remarkable piece
of highly original scholarship on a hugely important topic in Virginia
history. Brent Tarter's treatment—thorough yet provocative, a vintage
Tarter production—goes far to explain the ferocious struggle and
historical discontinuity of late-nineteenth-century Virginia politics, a
struggle that reverberated from Reconstruction down through the years
of Harry F. Byrd to Massive Resistance." -- Peter Wallenstein
"No one knows Virginia's political history better than Brent Tarter.
With expert skill, he traces the twisting path of Virginia's debt
controversy through the tumultuous decades after the Civil War,
revealing fault lines that endure to today." -- Edward Ayers
More information is available
here.
